Carey Tung

How did I end up at Arizona State University? Well, it was my best friend’s fault.

During the summer of 2022, I attended a 2-week worldviews conference in Colorado where I met a hilarious and easygoing human being of the female persuasion who – through a whirlwind of random emails, extensive phone calls, and spontaneous shenanigans – somehow became my best friend. She was really the only one from that conference that I stayed in consistent contact with. And boy, did she use that contact to her advantage.

It was a few months later… the fall semester of our senior year in high school. We were taking a break from the struggle bus that is Common App college applications and decided to bug each other over a Skype call (I know, call me antiquated). I had applied to two colleges, Purdue and Arizona State, and was fairly confident I would get accepted into both. Meanwhile, my bestie was dead set on attending Grand Canyon University (whose naming convention I still don’t understand as the school isn’t located anywhere near the Grand Canyon).

“You should go to ASU,” she’d begged. “Then we could see each other more often. It’s only a 30-minute drive from GCU. Pleeeeeeaaaassseeeeeee.”

She then proceeded to give me the biggest pleading kitty eyes in the history of all pleading kitties and all pleading eyes of said kitties. How could I resist? I simply HAD to go. And so, here I am at ASU, a Sun Devil with an Antelope for a partner in crime and 90-degree Fahrenheit weather for a pleasant spring day.

Okay, that might have been a bit of an exaggeration.

In truth, the then-prospective ‘lope was not the main reason why I chose ASU. A myriad of other factors – such as scholarships, program ratings, and campus community – combined to make the ultimate decision of where I would spend the next four years of my life. It just so happened that the result was Arizona State (which my best friend was definitely rather giddy about. And yes, we do hang out quite a bit nowadays).

So, why?

Why go through this long, convoluted, half-true nonsense of a story when it isn’t even something that occurred during my freshman year of college, which I claimed this post was going to be about? (No, I did not forget the title of my post; don’t worry).

Because it’s funny the people you meet. And the way in which you meet them. And the crazy relationships you end up having with them.

Like the small town, red-haired sunshine girl who is quite literally the nicest person I have ever met. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, but she’s a robotics major and smart as a whip.

Then there’s the mechanical engineer who is the polar opposite and yet somehow still in the same friend group. Sarcastic and addicted to Instagram memes, he’s the comic relief everywhere he goes. But underneath that deadpan face, he’s got a rock-solid conscience and a hardworking attitude.

Or how about the midshipman I met at the beginning-of-year pool party? Fitting place since he’s in the Navy; ironic since he hates swimming. He might not be the tallest kid on the block, but he’s got big dreams of becoming a pilot and he ain’t afraid to chase them.

And I can’t forget my crazy racing friend who’s fierce as a tiger and always down for anything. I swear if you test her blood, it’d come back positive for coffee, NASCAR, and country music. She might seem young and fiery, but on the inside, she’s a sweet old soul.

I’ve ridden waves with these people and been dashed against rocks with these people. They’ve saved me from drowning and I’ve saved them. They’ve turned my world upside down, sideways, and right side up again in the best way possible. And they’ve made my first year in college a full and unforgettable experience.

I could have talked about the classes I took, the clubs I joined, or the events I attended. But in the end, it’s always the people I meet that make something worth remembering. So, take another look at the individuals I have described. Read their paragraphs again. Study their personalities.

Because they are my freshman year at Arizona State University.